When reading Foton’s post at AFKGamer about LOTRO coming out, there was one quote that made me stop and think a little bit.
Which brings me to today’s online gaming lesson: In a new online game, when confronted with “aren’t you Soandso from WoW and/or EQ (etc)?”, deny, deny, deny.
This got me wondering how many people like to use the same name from game to game or how many like to change it up.
In EQLive my cleric’s name on Stormhammer was Zodiak Zympatiko. I’d like to say that I had a decent reputation, albeit a little loudmouthed and opinionated at times. When I moved onto EQ2, I kept that name at first. My name was Zodiak, a half elf shaman on Permafrost. I picked up WoW, and my first character was Zodiak – a Night Elf Priest on Medivh. (Zodiak is my horse’s name btw.) I ended up switching to new characters in both WoW and EQ2, and ended up calling myself Cuppycake. Sometimes I find myself wishing that all the people who knew me as Zodiak could make the connection that now I am Cuppycake.
Obviously people who earn themselves a bad reputation end up switching their name when they switch games. Also if you’re playing alts, you are not going to have the same name. But I’m finding myself now always wanting some form of Cuppycake so that I can be recognized in the various games I play. My name is always either Cuppycake, or Cuppiecake, or Cuppy, or Cuppie. I think its fun to be recognized by people who see my postings on forums or read my blog, etc.
So my questions are as follows. To those of you who keep your same name – why is that? Is it because you like to be recognized? Or because you ‘identify’ with that particular name? Those of you who change your name, do you like to start anew with each avatar you play? Do you like to be left alone?
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I change my name from game to game. I have a ton of alts because I prefer to be lost in the crowd. I’m tired of being identified. =) Silence is golden but duct tape is forever. hehe
I keep my name from game to game, forum to forum, and even xbox live. I like to be identified, and it’s fun to get in touch with people you may have played with 2 or 3 game generations ago.
-Nikmis
This makes me wonder why more games don’t use global identifiers for players. I mean, I know it’s nice to be anonymous sometimes… but there could be an /anon switch for players if they’re really concerned about privacy, and then you don’t have to update an entire friends list with your new character every time you roll up an alt.
Different game, different name.
For the most part.
I recycle names about every 2-3 years, when it’s fairly guaranteed that anyone remembering the old name will have long forgotten it or has moved on.
I also rarely play a single game for longer than a full year.
WoW is an interesting and twisted rarity.
I tend to get stuck on a name for a few months (or years) and when I get tired of it, I swap off to a new one. It usually depends on what I can get on the chosen server, it has to be neat, spelled correctly, instantly recognizable (celebrity, pop culture reference etc) and easy to type, and if more then four letters, easy to truncate down to four letters.
I would be great to keep the same name from game to game, but the name is almost never available on the new chosen server / game. I like the global identifier though, if there would be a way to make that unique, say “Hiram of Florida” or something along those lines, I think it could work.
I try to keep the same name. When I first started using Adele it wasn’t ever used, but now there are tons of them in game with different spellings! I do try to use some form of Adele, Adelian, Adel, Adal, ect. If not I use Caelia. I do this so friends from other games can find me easily:)
Ever since I started playing rpgs (of any kind) I always name my character something which seems unique and appropriate for that particular character. I have given up trying to role-play in an mmog because the environment just doesn’t work for that but I now have a tradition of never using the same name twice. I can’t imagine that I’m alone in naming my “character” and not naming myself?
I’ve used the alias Akileese since back in Diablo II LOD (my buff barb). It’s just familiarity. I use it for forum names and what not so I figured I’d keep using it.
Thanks for all the comments guys, great information here =)
I’ve kept the same name since 2004, Belmirus usually…or some sort of derivation with “Bel” in front. Common ones are Belsirus, Beldarthus. I read David Eddings books, and the prefix “Bel” stuck with me. It means “Lord” in some old language I think.
I tend to use the same names in a game even for my alts. My main is Karnak and every single alt I have has a variation of “Karn” at the beginning. I like people knowing its me. I hate when someone pops on in the guild on an alt and I have no clue who the hell it is.
Maybe if I were more into RP they would all have different names but aside from my dwarves having a strong disdain for elves and bows (a holdover from D&D days gone by) I don’t RP anymore.
All those names though can be construed as “real” names though and I actually do put a bit of thought in to them for the character. So they don’t “jar” someones perception (people running around with names like Ipwnyou and the like irritate me no end).
I tend to use the same names over time, though certain names are always with certain race/class combos. I have had some sort of barbarian/human warrior/paladin named Vikund in games for the last 12 years or so.
Occasionally the whim will strike me and a new name will enter my list. Some others have faded away with time. I had a series of dwarves named Adek though into EQ, but never used it after that.
I honestly had never thought too much on this, but it’s definitely something that I’ve done myself. At first when gaming and creating a character, I used to create a character by a name that suited my mood and the look of the character, but then I fell in love with a character and ended up playing that particular one more and more often. Once an alta-holic, always an alta-holic, but at some point a person naturally grows attached to a favorite.
What I’ve encountered in the end though is that when I go to another game, I will create a character with the particular name that I’d used from a prior game, but end up falling in love with another of my alts and end up back in that cycle. The only identifier I have now is my online profile name and the different game companies now syncing the game character names to associate with your online persona.
Wow – that was a very disjointed post of mine. Uhm… directly from the brain to type. :/ *shrugs* ah well. I hope you get what I meant in all of that.
HEY!!!! Do you remember me? I saw your post on the LoL board and I thought I’d pop by. I was Kimry on EQII — eeek, I hope you do.
I just thought it was TOTALLY IRONIC about your new moniker, you know why?
I started going by Cupcakemonster or Cuppycake last February.
Clearly brilliant minds think alike.
I’ve been using the same name since I started playing EQ in early 2000, whether its my toon in game or forum handle, always the same.
Why? Its hard to say. I like the name; its become as much a part of my persona as my real name. I certainly never have to worry about cases of mistaken identity, heh…if someone has run into a Faltigoth over the years, whether in game or on a forum, then they ran into me.
Always keep my main as the same name, Liber with variations on that for alts. Nice & short, easy to remember & type…
I used Ogrebear in everquest 1, since i liked the name i used it in everquest2 (but had to pick Ogrebears as Ogrebear was a reserved name.